Fast Dual Meet 3200/2 Miles-8:59.1 dual 2 mile in 1973 - Terry Williams (Lompoc)

April 20th, 2006
Doug Speck with commentary from Steve Galbraith (former Lompoc HS - now Kansas resident)

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fast Dual Meet 3200/2 Miles

April 20th, 2006

All right, I'm the guy who opened his mouth while announcing at Arcadia and said that Michael Cybulski of Royals 3200 of 9:11 in a dual this year might have been the quickest ever in a California dual meet.  My memory does go back a few decades and sure don't recall anyone running faster.
Doug Speck - Arcadia HS & DyeStatCal.com

Had a couple of responses to the statement. 

Ken Gerry, former Camarillo star, passed on a note at the Arcadia Meet that Eddie Ramirez of Channel Islands in Oxnard ran 9:09.8 in a dual in 1969.  Oh well, I taught at CI from 1971 until 1976 and knew Eddie, so one strike against me for not knowing that. 

Below is an interesting commentary from Steve Galbraith, former Lompoc HS runner from the early 1970's who indicates that it is Terry Williams, who was one of the headliners of the great Lompoc HS squads from that era who cruised an 8:59.1 for a full two miles in a dual meet in 1973 who probably has the award for "quickest 8 laps in a dual."

One gains a sense of the quality of that Lompoc team, which was truly frightening in Steve's era, with Galbraith's (now a resident of Kansas) description below:

Great Arcadia relays! I also enjoyed coverage by Tim Fulton. He really set up the races and summarized the efforts. I did notice one comment he made, simply because he did not know different. He was talking about Michael Cybulski's great anchor on the 4x1760 yard relay. He mentioned in his article on Michael that Michael had just run a 9:11 3200 in a duel meet, and to Tim's knowledge this was probably the fastest 3200 in a duel meet in California history. I guess we have to go back in history a bit to get a glimpse at what is probably the fastest. In April of 1973, Terry Williams, running for Lompoc High School ran a 8:59.1 "2-mile" (worth a 8:55.5 3200) in a league duel meet between Lompoc and Arroyo Grande. He won by nearly a minute, on a breezy day on a cinder track. His credentials are Legend in California Track: 1:55; 4:08.5, 8:54.8, 14:08 5k; 29:55 10K, 51:08 ten-mile (junior year) nearly 12 miles in an hour (junior year). That Lompoc team was strong then, breaking two National Postal records in Cross Country; setting a new National record in the Distance Medley (10:03.0) and running 17:13.2 in the 4-mile relay (missed the National record by one second). It could have been faster, but Alvin Gilmore (another 4:08 miler for Lompoc that year) was ill with the flu and ran 4:13 in that relay, five seconds slower than his best.

Ah, those were the days when you had the qualifying race to the qualifying race to the state meet end up with three milers at 4:08, 4:08, 4:09 (C.I.F. Southern Section meet was a qualifier to the Master's meet which was a qualifier for the State meet from the Southern Section). That C.I.F. 3A final saw the above times. Yeah, those were the days of Barrie Williams and Curtis Beck (4:06 and 4:04.0 milers as juinors in 1972), Eric Hulst, freshman phenom, who still holds that National freshman 2-mile record at 9:04.0 after 33 years, Mary Decker (2:02 indoors at age 15), Richard Kimball and Thom Hunt (4:02 milers) and some incredible talent this side of Matt Centrowitz and Craig Virgin.

So, running a solo 8:55 3200 (converted) on a windy day on a sliding, scratchy cinder track wasn't a huge deal to Terry or the 20 fans in the stands who saw it. It was simply the norm, what everyone was used to seeing. Three national records in one year, nearly a fourth, a cc team that averaged 9:12 in the 2-mile for it's top seven runners and 14:41 3-mile average (missing their 3,4 runners that day) was an epic year. Terry went on to be named the Southern Sections Track and Field athlete of the year. Interesting the top miler in the U.S. this year, Michael Coe runs for Cabrillo, Lompoc's foe. Michael Coe's dad, Scott, ran track & CC for Lompoc High during that epic 72-73 season.
What a small world.

Finally, my best mile was run on a track Jordan Hasay probably uses. It was pouring rain when we ran against San Luis Obispo in a duel meet. I ran 4:28, but alas, was only the 8th best miler on my team. Couldn't even qualify out of my league for CIF prelims, as four teammates beat me that day. Here, in Kansas, sometimes you can win 6A with a 4:26 equivalent 1600. No regrets though, for those were the days...

Steve Galbraith